Pushpa Impact: Kattalan Tries Forest Action

Years are passing, but the impact of Allu Arjun’s career-best blockbuster “Pushpa” franchise is only getting stronger instead of slowing down. Ever since Sukumar turned red sandalwood smuggling into a mass cinematic world, giving hype to smugglers and their way of operations, more filmmakers across industries have started exploring forest-based action dramas with smuggling backdrops.

Already, we have movies like Ramarao On Duty and others that came in Tollywood, which dealt with the same backdrop. Last year, Malayalam cinema came up with Vilayath Buddha starring Prithviraj Sukumaran, which is set up in a similar rugged forest backdrop, smuggling atmosphere and survival drama, though the storyline is different. Now another film is entering the same zone, which is titled “Kattalan”.

Just like Pushpa, this film too unfolds inside forests. But instead of red sandalwood, the smuggling revolves around elephant tusks in the Bandipore forests. Antony Varghese plays the lead role, while Sunil and Kabir Duhan Singh appear as villains. Interestingly, even several supporting actors seen in Pushpa are reportedly part of this film. Dushara Vijayan is playing the leading lady, in an action-packed role. The recently released trailer is packed with action visuals and bloodshed, clearly targeting mass audiences.

Another major attraction is the background score by Ravi Basrur, who became hugely popular after KGF series. As the film is set for a May 28th release, many are wondering if Kattalan could repeat a Pushpa-like success. With major commercial songs absent, we have to see how the film works.